When a school starts pulling from their waitlist, do they just take the pool of waitlist candidates and start making offers to the people with the highest numbers? Or do softs matter a lot more when they evaluate waitlist apps?

While of course schools will look at numbers, they will also look at whether or not you will actually attend if you are accepted from the waitlist.. To demonstrate your interest in attending the school if admitted you should write a LOCI (Letter of Continued Interest) to the admissions committee. It is not rare to see people pulled off the waitlist who have sent in several LOCIs to the admissions committee.

fragged wrote:do they just take the pool of waitlist candidates and start making offers to the people with the highest numbers? Or do softs matter a lot more when they evaluate waitlist apps?

I was on 3-4 WL this cycle. All of them said they are not (numerically) ranked. I inquired about one in particular and was told "backgrounds" are important at this point.

I still wonder if given the pressures of keeping 25-median-75 LSAT and GPA the same or higher, depending on what the school needs, a splitter would get in before someone around both medians. Just as an observation, it seems like LOCIs REALLY make the difference at some schools, and I mean like people on LSN report WL, acceptance just days after sending a LOCI.

I've read a lot of information about LOCIs, but I can't seem the find the answer to a specific question I have.

I sent in a LOCI before I heard a decision from a school, simply because I was in-review for so long without hearing anything. I was recently waitlisted. I'm unsure of what to send in now. Should I write another LOCI - or send in an update? What would the update need to say/look like? I don't know if I should say "I'm writing to you, after being waitlisted, to express my continued interest in attending ____. Although I have already sent in a letter of continued interest, I would like to reaffirm that interest and remind you that ____ is still my first choice school. blah blah, updates on my life (not really any)."

Also - should I tell them that I would be willing to attend part time if not admitted full time? Or does that seem like I am giving up hope on being admitted FT?

I think consensus is to send LOCI's in often (but not too often) to keep your name in the loop as being interested. It's hard because assuming you've told them your whole life story in your application and then sent in 1 or 2 LOCI's, you start running out of interesting things to say. "Hey, it's me... just wanted to let you know I'm still sitting here by the phone waiting for a call from area code (xxx)."